From: Anya
Dear Jessica, I write to you in hopes that you will help my horse and myself and solve a problem situation. I bought my horse last year, he was only 2 years old and he was a rescue case that had not been handled much. I was told that getting Shadow into the trailer and then getting him to stand still for the vet was difficult and involved ropes and a twitch but that this should not leave him permanently scarred psychologically. My friend brought him here in her stock trailer so that he would have plenty of room and could balance. It worked fine and he was able to unload by turning around and jumping off the trailer which he did. She unloaded him directly into his pasture because we did not want to take any chances of him getting loose and maybe getting out into the road. This was in November and now it is almost April. In that time I have spent time with him every day and we are friends.
I can halter and lead him and he has learned to stand when he is tied as long as I am there with him. My friend brought her stock trailer back last week and parked in the pasture and we spend an hour practicing getting in and out of the trailer and having some treats in the trailer. Shadow was so good, he didn't have any problem and he wasn't frightened or trying to get away, he was very calm. He loves to be brushed and will stretch his neck and stick out his lip just the way you said. BUT! His winter coat is almost gone, he looks much better and is even shiny, but he has long "whiskers" like a goat and I need to get them trimmed. He will not let me use the clippers on him. I read in your advice how to do "advance and retreat" with the clippers and I think that will work. But just getting started is hard because of the advice I am getting.
There are two "authorities" at this barn, one is the lady who teaches the riding lessons and the other is a lady who has three horses at the barn, she has her own pasture and a big trailer and she is a very strong personality. Both ladies are very strong personalities! I am shy and don't like to be caught between two strong personalities arguing but that is right where I am right now. Both ladies are trying to help me with Shadow. The instructor says that he needs to understand who is in charge, and that I should hobble him or tie up one leg so that he can't get away and then I can use the clippers and he will understand that it doesn't hurt him. The other lady says that I need to run the clippers and hold him on the lead rope and let him move around because he will be calmer that way and then he will learn not to be afraid and he will stop moving around. Then the instructor says no, that will just teach him to move around whenever he hears the clippers.
I don't know what to do and now whatever I do will be taking the side of one lady against the other! What can I do? And which lady is telling me the right thing to do? I want Shadow to be happy with me and I don't want to force him to accept clippers if you think that he will accept them better if I am patient. My feelings are that letting him move around is better, but I am worried what will happen if Shadow or I get tangled up in the clipper cord. It is not very long. I am not in a hurry to train Shadow because I don't plan to begin riding him for another year at least. Could I please have your advice? I need it for two reasons, one is that I really don't know what to do and the other is that both these ladies think you are great, so if I tell them that you said to do something, then everything will be fine and I won't be stuck in the middle and nobody will be angry with me. I also keep worrying about Shadow and psychological damage. Thank you very much, Anya
I agree with the folks at the horse rescue - Shadow is probably NOT psychologically damaged. There's a big difference between a horse that has been actively abused (hurt, frightened, and confused) over a long time and one that has merely been neglected and then surprised by people doing odd (but not necessarily painful or frightening) things. It's too bad that Shadow's first introduction to the vets and farrier and trailer had to be so abrupt, and that he had to be tied and twitched for the process, but that's often necessary when horses have been taken out of a very bad situation and need immediate medical and farrier attention. There is no way to give those horses a month or more of gradual desensitization - they have to hold still, and that's that. But what's interesting - and I've noticed this with almost every rescue horse I've handled - is that the horses really do seem to understand that they are being helped, even though they must find the situation exceedingly strange.
The people handling Shadow may have had to use hobbles or a twitch (or both) to keep him standing quietly in one place whilst the work was being done, but what I've observed, time and time again, is that the neglected horses are comparatively easy to work with, and don't hold a grudge afterwards. Horses that have never had their hooves trimmed and horses that have never had injections or had blood drawn by a vet find it all very strange, but not necessarily any more strange (or more scary) than riding in a trailer, or standing in a barn aisle with lights on and people all around them. The "problem" horses are the ones that have been handled roughly and abusively in the past, and KNOW that people mean trouble, and that people with anvils or people with white coats mean BIG trouble - those horses usually require a lot more time and effort to convince them to change their minds.
Since Shadow leads, ties, loves to be brushed, and is calm about getting into and out of the trailer, you've accomplished quite a lot in just a few months' time. This tells me that there is no need for you to worry, because you're getting the job done. It also tells me that there's no need for you to feel pushed or hurried - because you're getting the job done. When you work with horses, unless there's an emergency/rescue situation as mentioned above, you need to let the training take the time it takes. Some horses will get used to clippers in a single short session; others need weeks of desensitization. They're all normal - they're just not all the same. ;-)
I agree that you should let Shadow move around. Allowing him to move his feet, even if he's just walking around you in a small circle, will let both of you remain calm, and will let him learn that the clippers can touch him over and over again without hurting him. If you force him to stand still to be clipped, you will be able to clip him - ONCE. The next time, you may have a fight on your hands. There's no reason for to let that happen. Clipping long muzzle whiskers hardly qualifies as an emergency procedure. If I were you, I would begin all of this in a pasture, arena, or round pen - somewhere big enough and open enough for Shadow NOT to feel that he is being confined, and somewhere you can let him walk around you without worrying about what he might bump into or knock over. For this kind of lesson, a pasture, arena, or round pen will be a much better venue than a stall or a barn aisle.
Getting tangled in the cord is a very real possibility, so don't use a cord. For about $12, you can buy a tiny pair of battery-operated clippers. These are wonderful for teaching horses about clippers and the sensations and sounds and vibrations associated with clippers. They don't have cords, so there's nothing to get tangled in. They're small enough for you to hold easily in your hand, and you can slip them into your pocket if you need to use both hands (one on the lead rope and one to pet your horse?). And - worst case scenario - if you drop them and the horse steps on them, it's not the end of the world, because they're so inexpensive.
If you take your time and use the advance-and-retreat method (combined with creating positive associations with the clippers) you should have no trouble getting Shadow to relax and accept them calmly. That said, I do have a question for you: How strongly do you feel about getting rid of those whiskers THIS spring? If, in your own good judgement, this is going to put too much pressure on Shadow at a time when you need to be getting him used to other, more important procedures and forms of handling, you can always wait and teach him about clipping later. The bits of hair that can catch in or interfere with tack and make the horse uncomfortable are the only bits of hair that you really need to remove. Most clipping is cosmetic, not practical - all you need to do is to cut a short bridle path and trim any "beard whiskers" that are likely to become tangled in a halter, longeing cavesson, or headstall. You don't even need clippers - you can do the job quickly and quietly, with a pair of short, blunt-ended scissors. Most whisker-removing is done strictly for cosmetic reasons.
You probably don't need to be reminded of this, but DO please leave the feelers around his eyes and on his muzzle. If you can't bring yourself to let them grow long, at least leave them an inch long - don't remove them entirely. - or at least leave an inch or two of - the feelers around his eyes and on his muzzle! A lot of people really overdo the whole clipping routine - no horse should have its feelers removed, and no horse NEEDS to have its whiskers removed - except for the two small patches mentioned above.
Many young horses are ticklish around their muzzles. Some young horses wriggle their lips when they feel the clippers, and consequently feel that the clippers are PULLING their whiskers as well as cutting them. Before you begin clipping, be sure that your clipper blades are sharp and clean. Adjust them so that they don't clip too closely, so that they'll be less likely to pull hair or catch skin even if your horse is squirming around and wriggling his nose.
The good news is that many very ticklish two-year-olds grow up to be much less ticklish. Quite often, a two-year-old that can't tolerate the feeling of clippers vibrating will become a three-year-old that is completely calm and relaxed about the whole process - with no special training or desensitizing work having been performed in the meantime. Since there's no urgency about clipping Shadow's whiskers, you could simply ignore them for another year. He already likes and trusts you, and a year from now, he'll have spent more than one-third of his entire life in your care. By then, he should be an extremely confident, happy, trusting, and well-adjusted horse... and he's also likely to be less ticklish. ;-)
I understand that it can be hard to decide what to do when you aren't quite sure of yourself AND you're getting a lot of conflicting advice. This can be hard even when you're reasonably certain that you know what you want to do and what you think is right. Two of the hardest things for any horse-owner to learn is when (and how!) to say "Thanks very much, but I'm not ready to do that right now," and "Thanks very much, but I need to learn to do this for myself." When you need to say these things, say them with a smile - BUT SAY THEM. And then don't feel bad about whatever it is that you are doing or not doing.
It sounds to me as though you've been doing a very good job with Shadow. Keep up the good work, trust your own instincts and your own good sense, and remember that at the end of the day, the individual whose opinion of you matters most is not anyone at your barn, and it's not me - it's your horse.
Jessica
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